Indian ghostbusters

Every year, many people come from across India to the village of Malajpur to attend its ‘ghost fair’ – an event that is supposed to cleanse the possessed of evil spirits.

Participants like this woman go through exorcism rituals that are intense and sometimes violent, involving being made to run around a temple and getting beaten with a broom.

27 Jan 2013. BETUL, India. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Many of those who are thought to be possessed by evil spirits enter trance states, like this woman who cries out as she throws her head back at the village's Guru Deoji Maharaj temple.

Some of those who come to the event suffer from so-called ‘ghost attacks,’ meaning that they act normally one moment, but then start jumping, screaming, crying or even attacking people the next.

27 Jan 2013. BETUL, India. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Most of the believers who come to Malajpur to be exorcised are women, like this devotee who dances in a trance while holding an iron chain. Usually, they are brought to the event by their relatives.

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27 Jan 2013. BETUL, India. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

A man tries to hold a flailing devotee who is thought to be possessed by evil spirits.

27 Jan 2013. BETUL, India. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

A man tugs a devotee by the hair as she goes into a trance.

26 Jan 2013. BETUL, India. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

One of those thought to be possessed lies on the ground.

27 Jan 2013. BETUL, India. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Relatives hold a woman as she runs around the courtyard of a temple in the village. Priests say that the ghosts possessing a person become weaker and weaker the more he or she runs around this yard in an anti-clockwise direction.

27 Jan 2013. BETUL, India. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

A devotee cries as she performs a fire ritual on the sacred platform of the village temple.

27 Jan 2013. BETUL, India. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

She lies on the platform in a trance.

27 Jan 2013. BETUL, India. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Another devotee sobs in front of her relatives.

27 Jan 2013. BETUL, India. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

A girl at the ghost fair falls on the ground with her arms spread wide.

26 Jan 2013. BETUL, India. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

A devotee who is believed to be possessed lies on a sacred platform of the village temple with her eyes closed.

26 Jan 2013. BETUL, India. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

A woman's relatives take off her jewellery before she undergoes exorcism rituals at the temple.

27 Jan 2013. BETUL, India. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

A priest offers holy water to one devotee as another cries out.

26 Jan 2013. BETUL, India. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

A man pulls the hair of a woman who is believed to be possessed, as she covers her face with her hand.

26 Jan 2013. BETUL, India. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

A man tugs a devotee's hair as she lies on the temple platform.

26 Jan 2013. BETUL, India. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

A man holds a woman as she closes her eyes in a trance.

27 Jan 2013. BETUL, India. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

A child watches a woman thought to be possessed by ghosts, as she dances in a trance, flinging her hair in the air.

27 Jan 2013. BETUL, India. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

A woman thought to be possessed smokes a bidi as she walks around the courtyard of the temple.

"I don’t believe in ghosts, but it is true that people who come to the Malajpur temple feel really satisfied with the treatment."
Danish Siddiqui, Reuters Photographer

Malajpur is no ordinary small settlement in central India. On the contrary, it is probably the only village in the country to host an annual ‘ghost fair’. People come to this fair from across the country to get rid of evil spirits, which they believe possess their bodies.

As night falls on Paush Purnima (full moon night) the ‘possessed’ are taken to a local shrine to be exorcised. The people who bring their relatives here feel their relations’ bodies have been taken over by ghosts of the dead and that exorcism is the only release for them.

Interestingly, most of those who come here to be exorcised are women. When I asked the priest the reason for this, he said: “They are emotionally weak and hence easy target(s) for spirits.”

On the first day that I went to the temple, it looked to me like it could be any other temple complex. But suddenly from the middle of the crowd I heard a woman scream as she started running around the courtyard.

According to priests, the ghost possessing a person becomes weak the more they run around the yard in an anti-clockwise direction. For those who don’t run voluntarily (which is often the case) relatives or priests make them do so by pushing or kicking them.

After a few rounds, the possessed person is confronted by a priest on a sacred platform. The priest asks questions, such as the name of the ghost and why he or she is hounding the person. If the answers are not satisfactory, the running continues.

Some people suffer ‘ghost attacks’ which means they are fine one minute and they start jumping, screaming, crying or even attacking people the next. The temple becomes really chaotic just before dusk when more and more people are ‘attacked by ghosts’.

As night falls, the final stage of the ghost-busting begins when the main priest confronts the possessed people in a violent way. He holds the hair of the person in question, asks them questions and then beats them with a broom with a metal handle. Sometimes the possessed attack the priest.

When the priest thinks the ghost is finally in his control he makes it swear that if it returns, it will have to drink water from a lower caste person’s home. Caste plays a prominent part in Indian society and is mostly used to discriminate.

When a ghost is thought to leave someone’s body, the previously ‘possessed’ person falls unconscious for 10 to 15 seconds. After he or she gets up, the priest offers holy water and the person walks away as if nothing had happened.

At the fair, I had my own strange experience with ghosts when a possessed woman tried to grab my camera.

I don’t believe in ghosts, but it is true that people who come to the Malajpur temple feel really satisfied with the treatment. I believe it’s all a matter of faith.